On Thursday, March 31st and Friday, April 1st, nearly one hundred scholars, activists, and artists gathered for the third national URBAN conference at the CUNY Graduate Center: Critical Solidarities and Multi-Scalar Powers.

The convening began with a pre-conference Critical Participatory Action Research (PAR) workshop on Wednesday, March 30th. Maria Torre, director of the Public Science Project, and Michelle Fine, Distinguished Professor at the City University of New York Graduate Center, hosted the full-day workshop. Over 20 workshop participants explored the theory, ethics, and methods of participatory action research, and shared one another’s projects and experiences with PAR.

 On March 31st, the Gittell Chair in Urban Studies and URBAN national co-chair, Celina Su, opened the conference by highlighting how the assembly of the diverse group of scholars, activists, and artists act as a critical resource for mounting “refusals of neoliberal disempowerment and surveillance.” The full opening remarks are available here and the conference program is here. Fathers and Families of San Loaquin opened the first panel, “Liberatory schooling and justice: Dismantling the School-to-Prison Pipeline,” with a powerful skit that moved the state of policing of youth–young children, especially boys, as young as five–to the front of the conversation. The following panels, “Making place-making public: Urban transformation, marginality and community” and “Reclaiming the commons: Alternative strategies for racial economic justice,” discussed community organizing and artistic efforts aimed at remaking space as public and redefining the politics of our enduring collective institutions.

Thursday concluded with a reception and plenary in tribute to Marilyn Jacobs Gittell, during which some of her former students reflected on the legacy she leaves for them and for community-based research. Charles Price, Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, spoke about Gittell’s devoted and loving mentorship of young scholars of color. Liza Featherstone, columnist and writer, discussed current politics of school reform in New York City, tying in Gittell’s work in Brownsville. Joyce King, Professor and Benjamin E. Mays Endowed Chair for Urban Teaching, Learning and Leadership at Georgia State University, suggested that part of URBAN’s role in continuing the Gittell legacy should be to teach the history of engaged scholarship. Phil Thompson, Associate Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, also recalled the impact of Gittell’s mentorship on his career. Thompson argued for the revitalization of labor unions beyond its collapse into a “mindless bureaucracy” narrowly focused on neogtiating contracts with employers and into a movement that would include the struggles of communities of color: “if abolition wasn’t a labor movement then I don’t know what is”.

Friday, April 1st began with the panel “Within and beyond the nation: Reimagining immigration politics,” brimming with critical conversations on the racial dynamics, intersectionalities, and potential solidarities in confronting injustice, especially vis-à-vis organizing funders as well as the state. Throughout the two days, participants also met in small groups to strategize on the benefits and challenges of community-based research for both community members and those in the academy, how to build an educational justice movement across issue and discipline, issues of race and racism in collaborative work, and using a human rights framework to challenge state-sanctioned violence against communities of color.

URBAN is a multi-issue, multi-disciplinary network of scholars and activists committed to advancing community-engaged research in education and other policy areas. This gathering was sponsored by the Spencer and W.T. Grant Foundations, the Nellie Mae Education Fund, and the Marilyn J. Gittell Chair in Urban Studies.

Planning team members organized the conference, including: José Calderón, Julio Cammarota, Daniel Carrillo, John Diamond, Timothy Eatman, Michelle Fine, Ron Glass, Álvaro Huerta, Paul Kuttner, Lize Mogel, Lindsay Morgia, Celina Su, Ben Teresa and Mark Warren.

Gilda Ochoa, Professor of Chicana/o-Latina/o Studies and Sociology at Pomona College, reflects on the conference: Learning from the Contradictions: A Critical Reflection on Collaborative Action-Research.

Mark R. Warren, associate professor in the Department of Public Policy and Public Affairs at the McCormack Graduate School and national co-chair for URBAN, organized the conference along with Lindsay Morgia, a PhD student in the Public Policy department, and members of the URBAN conference planning team. Planning team members include John Diamond at University of Wisconsin, Tim Eatman of Syracuse University, Ron Glass of UC Santa Cruz, Michelle Fine of the CUNY Graduate Center, and Celina Su of the CUNY Graduate Center.

The two-day conference began with a pre-conference event on the evening of Thursday, November 12^th hosted by URBAN Boston and Youth Hub in the Codman Square neighborhood of Dorchester. During this event, Youth Hub shared their model of youth participatory action research and how they are using survey data collected in their neighborhood to address the issue of youth unemployment. A group of 40 community members and scholars attended this event. Learn more about Youth Hub’s work by clicking here.

On Friday, November 13^th, Dean David Cash welcomed the scholars and activists to UMass Boston and praised the group’s commitment to collaborative research with communities. Conference attendees then heard from three collaborative research teams from across the country to learn more about their work. These teams included the Morris Justice Project from New York City, focusing on criminal justice issues in the South Bronx, Youth Hub from Boston, and a team of scholars and activists working on issues of school closings from New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. These teams gave conference participants a chance to ground the discussions in real-world examples of collaborative research work. URBAN is grateful to these scholars and community members for sharing their work and experiences with our conference participants.

For the remainder of the conference, participants discussed many different topics, including the benefits and challenges of community-based research for both community members and those in the academy, issues of race and racism in collaborative work, and the benefits and challenges of taking a multi-issue, multi-disciplinary approach to research and activism. Participants engaged in both small and large group discussions and engaged in other interactive approaches, including use of the arts and technology to foster ideas and conversation. Finally, as a part of URBAN’s commitment to action, conference participants gathered to write a letter of solidarity with students at the University of Missouri. We welcome you to read and share this letter with your networks, and thank all of our conference participants for their energy, enthusiasm, and commitment to collaborative research and action.

In advance of submitting an application, prospective nodes will learn about the work of URBAN and its existing nodes. Prospective node leaders work closely with local university and community stakeholders to determine if there is an interest in creating a node, what local challenges there are, and how node members might benefit from a joint research partnership.

Please see the full guidelines and application process.

I’m circulating my recent op-ed, “SNL Must Dump Trump”–published in D.C.’s The Hill.
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/presidential-campaign/258879-snl-must-dump-trump#disqus_thread [thehill.com]

A shorter, nationally syndicated version of this social commentary will be published later this week.

Cordially,
Alvaro

This topic for this year’s Dale Prize colloquium is Planning for Community Self Determination and Racial Justice.  The event will be held February 10-11, 2016 on the Cal Poly Pomona campus.  Please view the official page of the Dale Prize for more details.

Nomination procedures and background on the Dale Prize are available here. 

A full schedule of sessions planned for the ASA annual meeting can be accessed here!

Dr. Alvaro Huerta is an Assistant Professor at Cal Poly Pomona with a joint appointment in Urban & Regional Planning and Ethnic & Women’s Studies. While he earned his B.A. (history) and M.A. (urban planning) from UCLA, he also earned his doctorate (city & regional planning) from UC Berkeley. His work is at the crossroads of community development, economic development, social movements, Chicana/o—Latina/o studies, and more. He is the author of the book Reframing the Latino Immigration Debate: Towards a Humanistic Paradigm. Married to his wife Antonia, Dr. Huerta is the son of Mexican immigrants from the beautiful state of Michoacán.